Myanmar's Rohingyas to find a home in Bhasan Char, a floating island off Bangladesh mainland

An uninhabited and muddy Bay of Bengal island is in process to turn into home for 1,00,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar.

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An uninhabited and muddy Bay of Bengal island is in process to turn into home for 1,00,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar. The government of Bangladesh is reportedly making “temporary arrangements” for these people to the island named Bhasan Char (meaning floating island). (Reuters)

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Floating Island, which emerged from the silt only about 20 years ago, is about 30 km (21 miles) from the mainland. (Reuters)

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British and Chinese engineers are helping prepare the island to receive refugees before the onset of monsoon rains. (Reuters)

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As per the architectural plan, there will be 1,440 blocks, each housing 16 families. (Reuters)

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The island regularly floods during June-September. Taking this into consideration, the coastal infrastructure design is expected to include a flood defence embankment protecting the development area to international standards, set back from the shoreline, reported Reuters quoting HR Wallingford, a British engineering and environmental hydraulics consultancy. (Reuters)

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has cleared that putting Rohingya on the low-lying island would be a “temporary arrangement” to ease congestion at the camps in Cox’s Bazar, which houses nearly 700,000 Rohingya who have fled Myanmar since August, 2017. (Reuters)

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Describing the island, Hasina told a news conference in Dhaka that “from a natural point of view it is very nice” and said although the initial plan was to put 100,000 people there, it had room for as many as 1 million. (Reuters)

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An adviser to Hasina told Reuters that it will not be a concentration camp for the Rohingyas and there will be certain restrictions. (Reuters)

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The island would reportedly have a police encampment with 40-50 armed personnel. (Reuters)